India Stocks Military Arsenal

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

India reportedly will bolster its navy with the purchaxe of six Franco-Spanish submarines in a deal reportedly worth $1.8 billion, according to a report by the BBC.

India plans to build six diesel-powered Scorpene SSK-class submarines at a naval dockyard in Mumbai (Bombay).
The deal is the latest in a series of military purchases by Delhi aimed at modernizing India's armed forces.
India is currently the developing world's leading buyer of military equipment, according to a report for the US Congress.

Delhi spent $5.7 billion on arms last year, taking it past China and Saudi Arabia, the Congressional Research Service said in August.

On Friday, the Chilean navy took delivery of the first of two Scorpene submarines developed by naval defense firms DCN of France and Navantia of Spain.